Starbucks vs. Luckin Coffee: Which one is better at coffee delivery? We did a real test

2018, coffee excitement.

Especially in the coffee delivery market, Starbucks and Luckin Coffee have started a close battle for takeout, and the competition is fierce.

So, which coffee delivery service is the best? In the spirit of watching the fun, the Kamen evaluation team started a PK test of the delivery services on the weekend morning.

Come and see.

Evaluation background: Battle in the same city, close combat

This time, the evaluation took place in Zhengzhou. In the past month or so, Luckin Coffee and Starbucks delivery services have been launched in this second-tier provincial capital city.

Data from both parties on the day of the evaluation showed that 17 of Starbucks' 23 stores in Zhengzhou had launched "Star Delivery" delivery services, while Luckin Coffee had 22 stores in operation.

According to the team, although Starbucks launched delivery after Luckin Coffee, it was able to surpass Luckin Coffee in terms of the number of stores. So far, Starbucks has launched the "Star Delivery" delivery service in more than 1,700 stores in 18 cities; the latest data from Double Eleven shows that Luckin Coffee has opened 1,400 stores offering delivery services in 21 cities.

Obviously, "Zhuanxingsong" and Luckin Coffee have entered into a large-scale close combat.

Scaling delivery services

Currently, Starbucks and Luckin Coffee both have two channels for providing delivery services - Starbucks is Ele.me and the Starbucks APP, while Luckin Coffee is the WeChat mini program and the Luckin APP.

Considering that Ele.me and mini programs may have third-party programs running, and page operations may be affected by third parties, we chose the official APP this time.

Ordering experience: Starbucks has a strong sense of exclusivity, Luckin Coffee is fast

When ordering through the Starbucks app, the exclusive feeling of “Starbucks Delivery” is very obvious.

Friends who are not Starbucks members need to pay attention. If you want to experience "Starbucks Delivery", please go to Ele.me.

If you are a Starbucks member, the experience is quite friendly. Not only will there be a "My Daily Standard" that you often order, so you can quickly place an order, but it will also recommend several products based on the customer's past preferences. For friends with "choice phobia", this is a very considerate function.

Say goodbye to the fear of choice

When you want to change the taste, you need to click on the "Menu" bar on the upper left, and then select from the drop-down menu of each series. However, for products that are out of stock or cannot be delivered, the pictures are displayed in gray, which avoids the embarrassment of discovering them after placing an order.

The menu bar needs to be pulled down continuously

Each product also has various categories, such as cup shape, temperature, sugar content, milk type, etc., and you can make a variety of choices according to your preferences. The official announcement is that a latte can be customized with more than 800 flavors, with a strong sense of exclusivity and experience.

Choose according to your personal taste

The Starbucks app will automatically identify your current location when you click the "Starbucks Delivery" function (if there are no stores in the area that can provide delivery services, a "Sorry" window will pop up directly). During the payment process, Starbucks will ask you to confirm the delivery address again.

Let’s take a look at Luckin Coffee. The APP also requires registration to use, and the first item for new users is free, which can be said to be a “magic tool for recruiting new users”.

When I opened the app, it would recommend the nearest store, and the location was relatively accurate. On the upper right side of the middle of the page, there was a small reminder to pick up or deliver. I clicked "delivery" without hesitation.

First select the service you need

Then you will jump to the page for selecting the address and filling in the contact person, just like ordering takeout on the takeout platform in our daily life.

Next is the menu, where you can directly see the various products. Under each product, you can choose the cup shape, hot or cold, and sweetness according to your preferences.

The page has a complete range of categories and operations rarely require pulling down.

However, it is understood that Luckin Coffee does not support delivery of several products, but they are still on the menu. Is it a mistake in the information? With curiosity, I clicked on a few products and added them to the shopping cart. When I was about to check out, I saw a reminder in the shopping cart that "only store pickup is allowed".

The left picture shows the menu bar, and the right picture shows the shopping cart products

In other words, if you don’t order Luckin Coffee often, you are likely to pick a product that “exists but cannot be delivered.”

In order to have a more comprehensive (mei) (chi) observation (zao) (fan) of the delivery packaging, we each ordered a cup of coffee (latte) and a light meal (blueberry muffin) for comparison.

After reluctantly rejecting the offers of "free shipping for orders over 35 yuan" and "second cup on us", the final price was 59 yuan for Starbucks (including 9 yuan delivery fee); 36.5 yuan for Luckin Coffee (including 6 yuan delivery fee).

After selecting the products at Luckin Coffee and Starbucks, they submitted the orders at the same time at 10:30.

Delivery: Starbucks special delivery, faster

After submitting the order, Luckin Coffee indicated that it was expected to be delivered at 11:02. Starbucks did not give an estimated delivery time, but said "You can enjoy it in 30 minutes" and displayed the remaining time in a "countdown" manner, and also directly displayed the location of the Starbucks delivery rider. It felt like a race against time.

Delivery page (Luckin Coffee on the left, Starbucks on the right)

Not only that, after the order was confirmed, we received the first text message from Starbucks, informing us that the order had been confirmed and asked us to wait patiently. On the other hand, Luckin did not confirm the order.

But after placing the order, Luckin Coffee provided "production live broadcast", which is simply awesome, so that you can watch it in real time.

However, just when I was still immersed in the "joy" of making the live broadcast, at 10:32, I received the first text message from Luckin Coffee, which said "Production has been completed". This speed is too fast.

The left side is for live broadcasting, and the right side is for SMS reminders

At 10:33, Starbucks sent a second text message, notifying: The order has been completed, the rider has picked up the goods and is delivering them.

At the same time, Luckin Coffee sent two text messages, one of which was also to inform that the order was completed and the delivery would be made by a SF Express deliveryman, and the other was a link to the deliveryman’s real-time location.

3 minutes, from production to pickup, are you guys cheating?

Before I could recover from the pick-up of the goods, my phone rang. Then I saw the Ele.me delivery guy. His blue windbreaker was particularly bright in the cold wind.

The time was 10:41 . Along with the third text message from Starbucks reminding us that the order had been delivered, the Ele.me delivery guy delivered the product to us.

The Ele.me delivery guy arrived at the same time as the SMS reminder

I had a brief conversation with the guy, who told me that they only deliver one order at a time, and the delivery boxes are separated into hot and cold boxes (the 9 yuan delivery fee is not wasted...). When I asked, "If the goods are spilled, will the store pay for it, or will Ele.me pay for it, or will you bear the responsibility?" The guy told me very straightforwardly, "It has never happened before." (Okay, I'm sorry.)

Luckin Coffee was 5 minutes later than Starbucks, but much earlier than expected. At 10:46, I received the Luckin Coffee delivered by a SF Express deliveryman. Similarly, I asked the SF Express deliveryman the same two questions. The SF Express deliveryman replied that one delivery is about three orders , and currently there is no delivery box equipped with hot and cold separation. As for the spillage of the goods, the answer is to contact the customer service, and the merchant will compensate.

Then, I got Luckin Coffee

Whether it is the Ele.me delivery guy or the SF Express delivery guy, speed is their common label.

After 16 minutes, both products were in hand, which was half the estimated time.

When I opened the Starbucks and Luckin Coffee apps again, I found that Starbucks directly popped up a dialog box for evaluating the order, while Luckin Coffee showed that the order was completed and I had to click "Go to Evaluate" to evaluate the order.

Luckin review page (left) Starbucks review page (right)

First-hand experience: convenience or ritual?

Finally got it, let’s take a look at the packaging.

We chose similar products from both parties, a cup of coffee and a small dessert. Starbucks gave two takeaway bags to separate the products, while Luckin chose to use one takeaway bag. Luckin's bag feels thicker.

The two packaging methods are different

In terms of packaging, Starbucks' packaging is sealed with paper stickers printed with "Star Delivery", while Luckin Coffee uses transparent tape.

The sealing part of Luckin Coffee (left) and Starbucks (right)

Even if you only order one cup of coffee, both brands put a cup holder in the paper bag.

The cup holder can stabilize the drink well

Regarding the two types of coffee, it is not difficult to tell from the cup lids that they were both carefully designed for takeout.

Starbucks has a patented cup lid designed to prevent spillage. The double-layer cup lid has a small circular reflux space between the layers, which can effectively prevent spillage and looks quite high-end. Luckin Coffee, on the other hand, has taped the vent holes.

The 2 cups of coffee arrived without spilling. And because of the fast delivery speed, the temperature of both cups of coffee was very comfortable.

Starbucks cup lid (left) and Luckin cup lid (right)

Let’s take a look at the packaging of the light meal muffins. Luckin Coffee puts them in a take-out bag, a small paper bag that should be specially used for light meals. It is easy to carry, but it is surprising that there is no tissue paper in the bag.

Luckin Coffee’s overall packaging (left) Starbucks’ overall packaging (right)

As for Starbucks, the same muffin is packaged in a box, and paper towels, a knife and fork are thoughtfully put in it. An extra takeaway bag is used to package it separately from the coffee, giving the overall sense of ritual a strong sense.

Even a muffin has both a knife and a fork.

And…thanks to McCafé for the “venue support”

In order to choose a delivery location that was close to Starbucks and Luckin Coffee, the evaluation team scouted the area one day in advance, and finally found a McDonald's by accident according to the map prompts.

In order to have a good view, take photos and spot the delivery guy first, we even sat in the McCafé area. I wonder if the waitress would roll her eyes at us when she saw us ordering Starbucks and Luckin Coffee.

Without caring about the young lady's gaze, we can finally start eating.

Finally, the question of which one tastes better is a topic that cannot be avoided in reviews. The majority of the review team answered that Starbucks has a better experience. However, due to the insufficient sample size, it is impossible to conduct targeted and quantitative tests, so this may not be an answer that represents the general public. The final answer, we choose to leave to the market.

Reprinted from Coffee Gate